Studies have recently shown that getting a good night's rest is more important than ever to an individual's health and overall quality of life. Depending on the age of an individual, some people require up to 10 full hours of sleep every night. Unfortunately, many factors compose the perfect night of sleep, including mattress comfort, bed placement, propensity for sound sleep (psychological factors), pillow comfort, and age. Unfortunately, in cases where an individual may move or change positions in his or her sleep, often the pillow may fall off the bed, either to the side, or behind the headboard, next to the wall, causing the individual discomfort, and potentially a sore neck from a lack of proper support upon waking. If there were a way to ensure that the pillow remained on the bed, rather than having the chance of falling behind the head of the bed, the inconvenience of dropping a pillow from the bed in one's sleep would be greatly diminished, thus increasing the likelihood of sound sleep.
Similarly, other activities typically occurring in bed, such as reading or watching television, can be impeded by the temporary loss of an item falling behind the head of the bed. For example, imagine a scenario where an individual falls asleep while watching television in bed, and happens to shift in his or her sleep, knocking the remote control behind the head of the bed in the process. Then, perhaps a loud noise from the still-running television show startles the individual awake, such as a gunshot in a movie, or a loud scream in a late-night horror film. The individual is now awake, searching for the remote to turn off the television, in order to promptly fall back asleep. Often if this activity takes more than a few seconds, the individual becomes fully awake, especially if the individual must turn on the light in order to locate the lost remote control. If there were a way to easily fill the gap commonly found between the mattress and the wall or headboard, the individual would be able to locate the lost remote quickly without getting out of bed or requiring additional lighting, could turn off the television, and return promptly to bed.
Other similar situations exist in which one would find it inconvenient to lose a personal item behind the head of the bed during the night. If one's eyeglasses were to fall behind the head of a bed due to the individual falling asleep wearing them, and the individual was not aware of where the glasses were upon waking, he or she could easily be late for work or an appointment. Thus there is a need for a device that could reliably fill the gap commonly found at the head of a conventional bed mattress, often between the headboard and the mattress, or the wall and the mattress.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,130 for “Bed Wedge Pad” by Wilson, issued on Feb. 1, 2005, shows a “bed pad wedge system” in which wedge-shaped barriers are fastened at edges of a mattress in order to prevent a person from falling out of the bed. Unlike the present invention, Wilson's invention is designed for placement at the sides of a mattress, whereas the present invention is designed to be placed in the gap between the mattress and a headboard.
U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0109961 for “Triangular Pillow” by Yu, published on May 15, 2008, shows a pillow “comprising a pillow body having a triangular shaped cross section”. Although Yu appears similar in design to the present invention, it is designed to be used as a pillow, whereas the present invention is designed to fill the gap between a headboard and a mattress.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,328,471 for “Bedding Wedge System” by Stohr, issued on Feb. 12, 2008, shows a mattress in which one end is elevated higher than the other end. Unlike the present invention, Stohr is a mattress surface, whereas the present invention is designed to fill the gap between a mattress and a headboard.